Big Ten hockey may be closer

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

John Madden stood by his equipment area in the Minnesota Wild dressing room, proudly pondering the possibility of his 11-year-old son someday suiting up for a big-time college hockey team as his dad once did for Michigan.

Madden hoped aloud, however, for one major difference: the experience of playing in the Big Ten.

“I’m a big advocate of it. I think it would be awesome,” the NHL veteran said this week. “It’d just be fun. And wow, what a competitive league that would be. That would be the league I’m sure every young kid would want to play in.”

These days, it’s more than a dream.

Penn State’s decision to start playing varsity hockey meets the conference’s six-team minimum for sponsoring the sport, potentially lucrative new programming on the conference-controlled Big Ten Network.

The rivalries between Minnesota and Wisconsin and Michigan and Michigan State are long and fierce, and, despite playing in crowded sports markets, those schools have passionate followings and a history of strong ticket sales.

Ohio State also has a team, though the Buckeyes have lagged behind the others.

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, newest member Nebraska, Northwestern and Purdue don’t have varsity programs, though they have club teams of varying levels of strength.

In December, an outdoor game at Michigan Stadium between the Wolverines and Spartans produced an attendance figure of 104,173 that set a Guinness World Record.

Big Ten spokesman Scott Chipman said the conference had no comment beyond a September statement that described the conference as “excited” about the launch of Penn State’s program.

Only 58 teams play NCAA Division I hockey, and a league of only Big Ten schools would have a major impact on the sport.

One view is it would help better regionalize the sport by forcing realignment. Teams spanning from Alaska to Ohio comprise the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and Air Force is with New England, Pennsylvania and New York schools in the Atlantic Hockey Association.

Another take is that smaller programs, particularly in the CCHA if Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State were to leave, could be crushed by the Big Ten’s power. Minnesota and Wisconsin are among the 12 teams in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which added Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha this season. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said the league has not received notification from the Gophers or Badgers of their intent to leave, and he termed talks about Big Ten hockey as merely casual.